Perrier - Nobilium Signorum et Statuarum - 1638

A BAROQUE ATLAS OF ROMAN SCULPTURE: THE HEROISM OF THE CLASSICAL FRAGMENT
Grande In Folio (42.5 X 31.7 cm)
Figurative seventeenth-century collection dedicated to ancient Roman sculpture, conceived as a visual monument against the destruction of time. François Perrier’s engravings, inspired by statues then visible in Roman collections and public places, translate classical archaeology into a cultivated, theatrical baroque language, suspended between antiquarian study, academic exercise, and moral meditation on transience. The allegorical frontispiece, one of the most powerful of the century, makes explicit the work’s purpose: to rescue from ruin what time and neglect threaten to erase.
MARKET VALUE
Complete and well-bound copies of this collection are now rare on the market and generally command a high range, with values rising significantly when the plate series is complete and in fresh condition; typically between €2,000 and €5,000. Incomplete copies or those with compromised bindings remain highly sought after for their engraving quality and the historical importance of the work, maintaining solid value in the international market for old graphics and figurative antiquarian books.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Green editorial cardboard binding, solid block of plates. Plates 51–52 and 63–64 are missing, not rebound originally. Plates signed “FP.B.”. Presence of handwritten pencil inscriptions under each engraving, consistent with the engraved index. Marginal tears, stains, and browning. As is always the case with ancient books, with a multi-century history, imperfections not always noted in the description may be present. Pp. (2); 102 nn; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Segmenta nobilium signorum et statuarum, quæ temporis dentem invidium evasere, urbis æternæ ruinis erepta, typis æneis ab se commissa perpetuæ venerationis monumentum.
Paris, chez la veuve du défunt Perrier, 1638.
François Perrier.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Segmenta nobilium signorum represents one of the most important engraving enterprises dedicated to classical sculpture in the seventeenth century. Perrier, formed in Rome and deeply influenced by the antique, selects famous statues and fragments then accessible, fixing them in an ideal form that often surpasses their actual state of preservation. The work sits in the tradition of the great Roman antique collections, but distinguishes itself by the plastically intense figures and by the nearly “heroic” treatment of the ancient nude. The allegorical frontispiece, with the personification of Time devouring the statues, clarifies the work’s moral program: engraving as a tool for the salvation of memory. The volume achieved wide fortune and deeply influenced artists, academies, and collectors between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
François Perrier, called Le Bourguignon (1594–1649), was a French painter and engraver active in Rome and Paris. A pupil of the Roman classicist milieu, he deeply absorbed the lesson of the antique, which became the focal point of his graphic production. Returning to France, he contributed decisively to the diffusion of the classicist taste, acting as a bridge between Roman archaeology and the French artistic culture of the seventeenth century.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The first issue is dated Rome 1638, with successive printings and Parisian reissues, some in a different format (including quarto). Brunet notes that the collection should comprise one hundred engravings, a number varying with issue and binding. Complete copies are now rare; more common are incomplete or rebound copies, indicating intensive use and long circulation of the work.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Brunet, Manuel du libraire, III, coll. 434–435.
ICCU / OPAC SBN, IT\ICCU\CFIE\006123.
BnF, Catalogue général, notice FRBNF 30555861.
Cicognara, Catalogo ragionato dei libri d’arte, n. 3754.
Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, s.v. Perrier.